1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for damping the flexing movements of a ski or a snowboard with a damping device which has two damping elements that are displaceable relative to one another in a longitudinal direction against damping resistance and which is arranged on the top side of the ski or snowboard.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Such a device is illustrated in FIGS. 13 and 14 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,923. The damping device is designed as a double-acting hydraulic piston-cylinder unit in which the cylinder and housing are displaced relative to one another when there are flexing movements, whereby hydraulic medium flows from one chamber into the other chamber through an adjustable throttle which is arranged hydraulically between two chambers divided by the piston in the cylinder. Different damping resistance levels can be established through appropriate adjustment of the throttle.
The object of this invention is to provide a device for damping the flexing movements of a ski or snowboard, having two damping members displaceable relative to each other in the longitudinal direction of the ski against a damping resistance. Another object is to also permit an adjustment of the damping in which the flexing characteristics of the ski or the like, which flexing characteristics are determined by the design, remain almost completely unchanged. A further object, in addition, is to permit an adjustment of the damping of flexing movements of the ski or the like.
This object is achieved with the device as described in the preceding paragraph by the fact that an element of the damper unit is secured on a first abutment, which is or can be rigidly mounted on the ski or the like, and the other element of the damping unit is detachably secured on another abutment, which is or can be mounted on the ski or the like, at a distance from the first abutment in the longitudinal direction.
This invention is based on the general idea of arranging the damping device in such a way that it can be turned on and off in that the one damper element can be mechanically coupled to or uncoupled from the respective abutment. This makes it possible to achieve a frictional connection, which has a damping effect, between the two abutments in that the one damping element is brought into its condition of being connected to the abutment. On the other hand, a condition that is practically free of frictional connection is also possible in that the damper unit is mechanically separated from the aforementioned abutment in terms of function.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, one element of the damper unit is rigidly connected in the longitudinal direction to a coupling part which works together with a mating coupling part of the other abutment which is adjustable between two end positions, the coupling part in the one end position of the mating coupling part being retained in a form-fitting manner in the longitudinal direction relative to the other abutment and being moveable in the longitudinal direction in the other end position of the mating coupling part.
This guarantees a simple design in which the damper unit can be designed in principle in almost any desired manner, but according to a preferred embodiment, so that effective damping is achieved especially with so-called counter-flexing movements of a ski, in which the ends of the ski or the snowboard swing downward relative to the area of the bindings, while there is little or no damping of flexing movements in which the ends of the skis move upward relative to the area of the bindings.
In an especially expedient design, the mating coupling part is designed as a slide which in one end position securely holds a claw of the coupling part in a form-fitting manner and releases the claw in its other end position.
It is provided here in particular that the mating coupling part is designed as a rotary slide which engages behind the claw with a portion of its peripheral wall in its one end position and retains it in the longitudinal direction, and, in its other end position, the mating coupling part releases the claw in the longitudinal direction with a recess in its peripheral wall.
The rotational mounting of the rotary slide may be accomplished by means of a crank guide, which is arranged outside of the axis of rotation, so that a correspondingly large space is available for the claw within the peripheral wall of the rotary slide.
In addition, the damper is preferably designed so that it dampens only or mainly only so-called counter-flexing movements of the ski, i.e., downward movement of the ends of the ski relative to the central area of the ski.
This invention includes this general idea, regardless of whether or not the damper can be uncoupled from its abutment.